Filtering by tag: Agriculture & Food ✕

photos showing an adult carpet beetle from the top and side. You can see a small, round/oval beetle with patterns of small orange, white and black scales

NC "Spring" Signals Indoor Carpet Beetle Activity

You may be noticing numerous, small (~2-3 mm), round critters crawling along window sills lately -- I know I have been! If so, they are likely carpet beetles (Dermestidae: Anthrenus sp.).The ones…

Photograph of Dr. Charles "Chuck" Hodges at his desk in front of microscopes

Chuck Hodges Second Retirement

It is with immense gratitude that we wish the remarkable Dr. Charles "Chuck" Hodges a very happy "second retirement". His formal retirement was 34 years ago from the U.S. Forest Service.Much of his…

Various molds and yeasts growing on culture media

PDIC Discontinuing Household Mold Identification Service

Beginning January 17th, 2023, the NC State Plant Disease and Insect Clinic (PDIC) will no longer be providing identification services for molds found in homes and other buildings. We understand this…

A heavy-bodied, black spider with shiny legs.

Local Spiders Confused for Deadly Relatives

I've been getting a few emails and calls about large, menacing-looking black spiders that are often confused for exotic, and sometimes deadly, Australian Sydney funnel-web spiders (Atrax robustus).…

A nursery web spider (Pisaurina mira) resting on a tree branch in the sun

Late Spring Spiders Common but Not Dangerous

We've been getting a lot of inquiries about spiders hanging around and coming inside homes lately. Some have been mistaken for brown recluses (Loxosceles reclusa) despite this species being extremely…

A bee in the genus Andrena poking its head out of a tunnel it made in the lawn of an urban yard.

It's the Season for Busy Ground-Nesting Bees!

As the weather warms up, insects and other animals are becoming more active. I wrote the other day about social wasps waking up, but here I'd like to talk about another close relative you may see in…

A large, red and yellow European hornet waits on the side of a tree.

Wasp Queens Waking Up After Winter Slumber

It's feeling a lot like spring out there! As the warm weather bring feelings of joy from longer days and more time outside, it also means that insects and other arthropods are waking up and becoming…

Bar graph showing the number of samples submitted by counties that made up 2% or more of the samples in 2021. The counties in descending order are Wake, Mecklenburg, Orange, Buncombe, Henderson, Durham, Guilford, New Hanover, Johnston, Randolph, Moore, Sa

2021 Plant Disease and Insect Clinic Year in Review

Last year (2021) was a busy one for us at the Plant Disease and Insect Clinic (PDIC). It was also eventful: all lab members returned to full-time work in the clinic around July (following approved…

glaze of ice and small icicles hanging from the top edge of a yard lamp

Adverse Weather Closure, January 21, 2022

NC State University has declared a Condition 2 adverse weather status through noon on Sunday, January 23rd, 2022. As a result, the Plant Disease and Insect Clinic will be closed. We apologize for any…

Banner showing leafminer on sweetgum, spores of soybean target spot, a boxwood with dieback, and a sawfly skeletonizing hibiscus

Save the Date: Plant Problem Diagnostics Short Course 2022

UPDATE: Registration for the course is closed The Plant Disease and Insect Clinic (PDIC) and collaborators are happy to announce a week-long Plant Problem Diagnostics Short Course to be held the week…